We’re getting closer to Halloween so I figured we could talk a little about Deadly Sugar. I can’t believe it’s been four years since I wrote this one LOL.
If you aren’t stalking Amy Spector online you should, she’s full of old school horror fun. Back in 2015, she wanted to do a joint writing project, not as co-authors of one story, but she wanted us to write a story bundle. Despite not knowing much about horror at all, apart from having a laugh writing it, I was thrilled to join the project.
From the beginning, we were meant to be three authors, but real life with all its time stealing demands happens to all of us, and in the end, only Amy and I were able to make the deadline so it became BURIED DESIRES – A Horror Double Feature.
I fucked up a little. We were supposed to write horror romance stories, but Deadly Sugar isn’t romance. I’m not saying that there isn’t love…a twisted kind of love but still love.
Jett is a pastry chef who has moved away from his partner since their relationship wasn’t going anywhere. All Jett wants is to build a life, buy a house, get married, adopt a kid, so when Josh, his partner isn’t interested he decides to buy a house for himself and end the relationship. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss Josh, he does, a lot. But maybe it’s time to move on, and his neighbour is quite hot.
David, Jett’s neighbour, doesn’t need a lover, he already has several chained up in his basement. But when Jett comes sniffing, he has to deal with it. Things don’t always go as you plan, though.
I was had so much fun writing Deadly Sugar, perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had writing a story. It’s dark and disturbing and if someone else had written it and I was the reader I might think the author was batshit crazy…and maybe I’d been right LOL.
It was getting dark again, Jett had never noticed how dark October was until he’d moved out here.
If David saw him, he’d probably think him mad. But that was a risk Jett was willing to take. If he stayed cooped up in the house listening to Josh’s messages on voicemail much longer, he’d go insane.
The air was chilly, but Jett figured he’d be warm soon. It wasn’t until he was standing over one of the flower beds that he realised he didn’t have a spade or shovel. Surely there must be one lying around. He went to the garden shed. Something must’ve been left behind.
After some rummaging around, he found a rusty digging fork in the garage—not what he’d had in mind but better than nothing. Jett didn’t know what you were supposed to do in a garden in the autumn, but he thought digging around a little sounded like a good idea.
It would’ve been a shame to mess up the well-kept plots, so Jett went to the bottom of the garden, right where the forest began. Down there was a messy area of uneven soil, Jett didn’t know if he would call it a garden bed, but it wasn’t lawn, and it wasn’t forest, so he figured he could take his frustration out on the patch of dirt without destroying anything of value. It looked like someone had dug there before.
Digging was therapeutic. Jett watched the soil fall between the tines over and over again. He was sweating, puffing each time he drove the fork into the ground. Pushing it down with his foot, and using his body weight to bend it before lifting the fork with a heap of dirt on. Dusk fell, but Jett kept on digging. Darkness took over, but he continued to shove the fork into the soil. Jett had a hard time seeing what he was doing, but he kept it up, kept on lifting and shaking the dirt, before forcing the tines into the ground again. Sweat was pearling on his forehead and his back ached, but there was no stopping him. Down, lift, shake. Down, lift, shake. It felt good to use his body and not have to think about moving boxes or phone calls.
He pushed the fork into the ground, lifted it with a huff, and shook. When he shook, he saw that something was stuck between the tines. Stopping the motion he looked closer.
A bone.
Jett let go of the garden fork. It fell to the ground. The impact forced the bone out from between the tines, and it landed right next to them. Jett stared. His heart was beating fast. It couldn’t be a bone. You don’t find bones that size in your garden. What animal has bones that size anyway? It was probably twenty-five centimetres long, maybe even more.
He took a step back. It had to be a stick, some kind of strange wood that became white when left in the soil. It has to be.
“What are you doing?”
Jett whirled around, a scream escaping his lips before he managed to force his mouth closed.
***
David watched Jett try to get himself under control. His eyes were wide, and his panting could be heard from several metres away. David was not pleased to see him digging around. He should’ve figured it might happen when the house went up for sale, should’ve taken precautions. How Jett reacted now, when he’d disturbed the resting place, would determine the outcome of the events to follow.
“N-nothing. I’m just digging a little, needed to get rid of some surplus energy.”
David laughed, the guy really did look spooked—hot. “There are more fun ways to do that.”
“Erm…yeah, I’m sure you’re right.” Jett smiled tentatively, his breathing becoming more and more normal, but he still wouldn’t look in the direction of where he’d been digging.
“I was wondering if you’d fancy a cup of tea. I was just about to put some on when I saw the light in your kitchen. I’m still not used to seeing it lit, but when I did, I thought why not ask if you wanted a cuppa.” David shrugged to show just how impulsive his idea had been. He had, in fact, been planning to ask Jett since breakfast, but impulse was better than planning…at least when you were trying to win someone’s trust.
“That would be lovely, thank you. I’ll just wash off first. Meet you at your place?”
David nodded and started walking back towards his house. Once he was out of sight, he stopped and waited. Jett was already on his way to his house, so all David had to do was wait for a minute or two.
Jett closed the door, and David went back to the resting place. A humerus. How has that managed to get so close to the surface? David reached for it. For the longest bone in the arm, it wasn’t very long, at least not this particular one. David sighed and thought of Matthew—it must be his. It had been three years now, and David still carried some fond memories. He’d been lovely—curly hair and brown eyes. David had been able to count all his vertebrae through his olive-coloured skin even in poor lighting. Too bad about the bedsores.
He held the bone close as he walked back to his house. Luckily, he already had prepared for Jett’s visit.
books2read.com/DeadlyCollection
The Deadly Sugar Collection includes Deadly Sugar, Deadly Secrets, Deadly Lies and a special link to Deadly Dates – a hidden chapter.
All Jett ever wanted was a big house where he and his partner could raise a family together. The only problem is his boyfriend doesn’t want to take the step. Jett refuses to wait any longer. If Josh doesn’t want to come with him, he’ll move on his own and begin to build the life he wants. And who knows maybe the cute neighbour would be willing to fill Josh’s shoes.
David doesn’t want any neighbours. He has all the company he needs locked away in his root cellar and a neighbour snooping around could easily ruin his perfect life. It doesn’t help that the neighbour is a pastry chef – a spreader of evil, an abomination the world needs to be saved from.
Maybe David can fit Jett into his busy schedule. Maybe he can keep him around for a little while. David decides to give Jett a chance, he does, after all, have a great bone structure that would turn him into a fine piece of art once David helps him lose all that unnecessary weight. But as David starts to put his plan into motion, Jett’s ex reappears. With Josh coming back Jett has a chance to get everything he wants if only he can get rid of the neighbour…
Ofelia Grand 